25. The siege lasted so long that there was a great famine in Samaria. A donkey’s head sold for eighty shekels of silver and a quarter kab of doves’ dung for five shekels.
26. Israel’s king was passing by on the city wall when a woman appealed to him, "Help me, Your Majesty!"
27. The king said, "No! May the Lord help you! Where can I find help for you? From the threshing floor or the winepress?"
28. But then the king asked her, "What’s troubling you?"She answered, "A woman said to me, ‘Give up your son so we can eat him today; we’ll eat my son tomorrow.’
29. So we cooked and ate my son. The next day I said to her, ‘Hand over your son so we can eat him.’ But she had hidden her son."
30. When the king heard the woman’s story, he ripped his clothes. And as he passed by along the wall, the people could see that he was wearing mourning clothes underneath.